Thomas Vonn is a new addition to the NYSEF/Northwood coaching staff. He is returning to his high school roots after spending twenty years away from Northwood as an Olympic and World Cup alpine ski racer and, later, a world-class coach, known mostly for coaching the technical aspects of ski racing. [Read more…]

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Award-winners posed with their plaques following the 2018 Co-Curricular Awards Banquet.

The Annual Co-Curricular Awards Banquet awarded twenty awards to nineteen student-athletes. This was the last formal dinner before graduation, recognizing individual athletes that are characterized by the concept that there is no “I” in team. Each coach chooses one student that they thought represented each award best and shared attributes of the athlete. [Read more…]

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The Northwood ski team has had a great season this year. Over spring break many NWS athletes were competing in CO, landing on the podium multiple times. In particular, Sarah Bennett ’19 has had an exceptional season that gave her the opportunity to be invited to a Quebec Team Evaluation Camp at Mont Edouard, Canada, where she is training with some of the best young Canadian ski racers. Also attending the camp is Erik Guay, a three-time Olympian, and Canada’s most successful male alpine skier. Bennett is currently ranked one of the best in North America for her age. [Read more…]

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Recently Northwood students Chelsea Smith ‘19 and Maddie McCarthy ‘18 have won Upstate New York Affiliate Honorable Mention of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Award for Aspirations in Computing. They have been chosen for their computing-related aspirations and achievements, their leadership ability, academic performance, and future plans. [Read more…]

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“I’m a Junior. I’ve been at Northwood since freshman year. I’m a ski racer. I am from Montreal, but I currently live in Stoneham. My favorite memory would have to be the powder day we had last year after training was cancelled, and the whole team was free skiing. The biggest piece of advice I can give an incoming freshman would be make friends outside of your athletic group. The first year you’re at Northwood can be the hardest when you are training six times a week; going to classes after can be tiring, but everyone here is pushing you to be your best self. When I’m not skiing, I enjoy mountain and road biking ,walking into town, and trying new things. This spring I want to do more hiking and get more involved in college preparation. In my free time I enjoy running with my dog and eating fajitas.”

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In late January, the skiers traveled to Gore, eager to race Super G after being let down in NH the previous weekend. The athletes had two races on Saturday, and one race on Sunday. The weather was sunny with mild winds, which made for a perfect day for racing. The course was set extraordinary tight for Super G, which challenged the racers ability to carve tight radius turns. By the second race the course had become faster by the number of athletes shaving off the slow top sheet of snow exposing the fast ice, and the rain clouds covering the sun.

Both races on Saturday went smoothly, but made for a long day because the athletes were booted up by 8am, and weren’t off the hill till 4pm. Saturday night it was 40 degrees and began to rain. The foul weather led to the hill freezing much like an ice rink. This excited many athletes, at least those who had tuned the night before. Unfortunately, the slick ice caused for a one-hour delay to let the hill soften; however, many turns on the course remained slick that were hidden from the sun.

The ski team had a very successful weekend, with the U16 boys coming home with two podium sweeps and the girls with three podiums.

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Members of the Northwood U16 team traveled five hours to Attitash, NH to compete in two Super G races. There were two scheduled training runs before racing on Monday and Tuesday. Monday, the skiers were able to warm up, stretch and ski the race hill, but when they went up to the start they were unable to race due to a broken chairlift. Tuesday morning the athletes woke to a snowstorm, which later turned into freezing rain and twenty mph winds, which led to the jury cancelling the second race due to dangerous weather and snow conditions. [Read more…]

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The Northwood U16 team competed in two GS races in the Catskills, one at Belleayre and one at Windham. The conditions at Belleayre were soft, making it more difficult for racers with higher bib numbers. The day started out sunny, but as the skiers prepared for their second run, the light became extremely flat. Both Martin McDonough ’20 and Gabrielle Cote ’21 had exceptional races. Cote skied her way to her first win of the season by over two and half seconds, finishing first overall and winning for U16s. Martin secured his second podium of the season, finishing second overall and finishing first for U16s. [Read more…]

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A few Northwood/NYSEF athletes competed in two slalom races over the holiday break in Western New York. The Ely Leene Holiday Slalom was held on Christmas Eve at Brantling Ski Slopes, which is a very small hill east of Rochester serviced by two J-bars. The course is typically very short and runs last about thirty seconds.

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Sophomore Magnus Sheffield is the top-ranked American cyclocross athlete in his age group. He’s also an outstanding ski racer. He gets a lot of questions about cyclocross

Cyclocross athlete Magnus Sheffield ’20. (Photo: Todd Prekaski)

I started racing cyclocross as a way to train for skiing in the off season. It started as something I did for fun, and it has now turned into something that I devote a lot of time and energy training for. Cyclocross is a cycling discipline that is extremely popular in Europe, especially in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and it is done in any kind of weather conditions. The season runs from late August until early February. Unfortunately, cyclocross is not yet an Olympic sport, but it is very popular worldwide.